


Four Times Miss Honey and Matilda Missed Their Sunday Morning Book Club

by Missy



Category: Matilda - Roald Dahl
Genre: Bittersweet, Families of Choice, Five Times, Gen, Growing Up, Mother-Daughter Relationship, letting go
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-25
Updated: 2015-12-25
Packaged: 2018-05-09 03:51:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 911
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5524361
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Missy/pseuds/Missy
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>They establish it as a form of bonding.  But they won't always be able to stick to the schedule at hand...</p>
            </blockquote>





	Four Times Miss Honey and Matilda Missed Their Sunday Morning Book Club

**Author's Note:**

  * For [lyricalnights](https://archiveofourown.org/users/lyricalnights/gifts).



They developed a Sunday routine. Miss Honey said it was a wise idea to have a routine if you’re a family; that way there is always something vital to stick to, and you notice and appreciate more when a treat - or better a surprise - comes along. So it’s established quite quickly: every Sunday she and Matilda would pour tea, sit in the kitchen, and read aloud to one another. 

“There’s no need, after all,” Miss Honey said, “to coop ourselves up and stay separated when we read. Thoughts are better when they’re shared.”

But time had a way of changing routines, of changing life. She would soon learn to roll with those changes – and realize that not every plan made in earnest would come to fruition.

%%%

**1:** Matilda was late coming back from her birdwatching . Incredibly late. Miss Honey paced the length of the kitchen, checking the phone and the clock at frequent intervals as she waited for the girl to cross her threshold. But it rang noon, and no Matilda. 

She’d begun the process of ringing up the sheriff when the girl stomped across the threshold, a handful of daisies in her hand and a volume of Proust tucked into her elbow. 

Miss Honey almost fainted in relief. Between bouts of mild scolding the words rolled forth – she’d gotten distracted researching flower names. Had picked some paperwhites as an apology, then rejected them as not grand enough - found a patch of wild daisies instead - and she was extremely sorry – she’d simply forgotten that she’d be missed, that someone cared enough to look for her.

The daisies went into a white jug jar and eventually lay pressed between the volumes of Chaucer on Miss Honey's shelf. It was a memory that stuck with her – and a reminder of the kindness that flowed from her adopted daughter’s heart.

%%%

**2:** Miss Honey was late. Matilda knew she shouldn’t worry – her dear mother figure is never more than fifteen minutes from a phone at any time, especially when she was lecturing. Still, she couldn't help but be nervous.

She wouldn’t abandon Matilda, would she?

There were books scattered round the kitchen table still to be read. Matilda forced herself to concentrate on the words. If she stayed focused on Dorothy’s adventures surely nothing terrible would happen. When the door opened with a creak and Miss Honey stepped over the threshold Matilda's stomach finally unknotted. There was a box of donuts in her hand and a smile on her face – and it was all enough for Matilda to know she was there, and that she would always come back for her no matter what got between them.

%%%

**3:** The line was interminable. Matilda checked her watch and shuffled her feet, a basket of groceries looped over her elbow. Beside her, Miss Honey studied the girl.

Somehow she’d blinked and Matilda had turned into a young woman – almost as tall as Jennifer herself and possessed of poise, talent and sensitivity. Soon, she realized, Matilda would be off to her own devices, taking in a whole new world at college. 

And yet still she stood beside Jennifer, waiting for them to return home, waiting for the next chapter in their story to begin.

“Did you agree to go off to the dance with the rest of the girls?” Jennifer asked suddenly.

“Oh, I couldn’t leave you alone all night!” Matilda protested. “And we have so many more nights ahead – I need to know what happens to Uncle Vanya…”

“Darling,” Jenny said. “I want you to go with your friends and have a beautiful time this morning. I’ll be just fine here, waiting for you at home. We can always read later.”

“But I don’t want you to be lonely. You are awfully alone too much of the time, and I worry when I’m off for a terribly long time.”

“Oh Matilda,” said Jenny softly, and then she reached to embrace the growing skinny weed of a girl who was once so small, so self-assured, and so lonely. “The only thing I wish for is your complete and total happiness.”

There were tears in the girls’ eyes as she turned and placed the groceries on the conveyor belt. “I want that for you too, Miss…Mother.”

Jenny did start crying then, her eyes overflowing in the supermarket check-out line, right there in front of a bunch of strangers, a cashier and a box of Matilda’s favorite cookies.

%%% 

**4:** Jenny didn't start dating immediately after Matilda left for college, much to the girl’s constant consternation. Jenny tried to encourage Matilda to concentrate on her studies, but some things never changed, and Matilda’s protectiveness remained paramount.

Eventually she found a kind gentleman with a lovely smile and a big garden. He moved into her house, and the meeting with Matilda – though it wrecked Jenny’s stomach for weeks - went smoothly. Sunday morning rolled around and he’d gone fishing, leaving Matilda and Jennifer with their souffle and their Scrabble. It was the afternoon proper before Matilda came to a realization.

“We should read together, just once more, for the sake of it,” she said. And it almost sounds as if she’s letting go of the child she was while holding on to Jennifer’s fingers.

“I thought you’d outgrown that,” Jennifer smiled.

“Never. Not you, nor reading, nor the feeling I get when we read together.”

Wonderful child.

They both lingered over the words happily for hours, until it was far past sunset.

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you enjoy your Yuletide!


End file.
